The Doctor's Unexpected Family: (Inspirational Romance) (Port Provident: Hurricane Hope) (20 page)

“Yes, I do. Haven’t used it in a while, though.”

“Now’s your chance, Pete. We’ll have to take care of your work and residence permits, but we should be able to get the work permit before you go—the usual turnaround is one to two months, but we’ve sent some nurses down there within the last two or three months and they’ve been very quick to turn everything around.”

“So this is really happening?” Pete felt the force of a hurricane all over again. This time it was Hurricane Jonas, moving things along with a sweeping wind of change. Pete’s mind swirled, but he really didn’t have time to think about any of it.

Jonas put out his hand for a handshake. “It sure is. Welcome to the Mercy Medical Mission team, Dr. Shipley. I’m excited to have you on board and to see the difference you’re going to make in the world.”

After Jonas passed back through the curtain, Pete took his phone out of the pocket of his white coat, then hung the coat over the back of the chair. He looked at another text from Jake and texted back that he was on his way.

But when he got there, what was he going to tell Jake?

And after that, what was he going to tell Angela?

On his way over to Jake’s office, Pete called Phil Walden to see if he’d be interested in the medical director role for The Grace Space. Tori Maldonado had been doing a great job running the store and would be perfect in a full-time role managing it. Maybe this could work out after all.

Jake and Pete talked and they conferenced Phil in on the phone to go over details. After they had a general idea of next steps, Pete got in his truck and drove east toward his home. He pulled up in the driveway and looked at the house.

It looked like this wasn’t going to be his home much longer. Funny how things could change in an instant. Investors were snatching up distressed properties to rehabilitate and flip, but Pete had heard that homes like his that hadn’t sustained damage and were therefore on the market at their full value were not moving at all.

He put the truck in reverse and headed back into town.

He wouldn’t need to go through the hassle of selling. There were plenty of people who needed a permanent home to call their own in Port Provident right now. Especially one with a pier at the end of the street that was perfect for fishing.

Pete knew exactly what he would do with his house. He hoped that would make things easier for Angela and Celina. Telling them would be the hardest thing he’d have to do between now and when his plane left for South America.

As he drove, Angela filled his thoughts. He knew he had fallen in love with her, her sparkling sugar eyes and her generous and determined spirit. But he didn’t really know where they stood. She’d said she wanted him to stay in Port Provident and run The Grace Space, but that could have been as much for what the facility could do for the community as it was for him. He’d kissed her and thought about kissing her even more than that—and he knew she’d kissed him back—but was that enough to give up the dream he’d had for years?

Angela was a practical sort and Pete could already hear her laughing at the fact that he’d even mulled the question over in her mind. No woman who was leading a city through the tangled business of hurricane recovery would let sentimentality keep her from her goals and the dreams she had for making Port Provident a better place.

She’d tell him it was the same for him. He’d had a dream and he’d fully pursued it until three days ago—when there’d apparently been a misunderstanding.

Pete pulled through the gate at the RV park and angled his truck in front of Angela’s temporary residence. He got out and headed for the door, grateful for the time he’d had to think on the way here from his house.

He didn’t even need to ask Angela what she thought. He knew what she’d say. Stay the course. Follow your dreams.

He would. Even though he knew that would lead him away from Angela and Celina.

Pete knocked on the door and tried to put a smile on his face. This course of action was the right one, and letting them live in his house for as long as they needed to was a good thing. Celina deserved a real house with her own room and a fishing pier that she could see from her bedroom window.

He was making the practical decision. The right decision.

Angela opened the door and her face curved into a smile as she saw Pete. “I was just making dinner.  Celina’s playing with a friend down the street, but she’ll be back in about fifteen minutes to eat. Why don’t you come on in and you can tell me how everything went with Jake today.”

There would be no easing into the subject. Pete decided he would just think of it as giving a difficult diagnosis to the patient. He’d done that plenty of times before. Stay compassionate but focused on the facts. That was the practical approach, and again, he’d already reminded himself that Angela valued practicality.

“Well, as good as dinner sounds, that’s actually what I came to talk to you about. There’s been a development.”

Angela moved place settings on the table and brought a third plate from the cabinet. “A development? That sounds interesting. Jake was in a meeting with me right before he headed back to do the paperwork with you. He didn’t tell me anything had changed.”

Stay practical. Don’t beat around the bush, Pete.   

Pete didn’t pray much, but he took a deep breath and asked God to send him the right words, the practical words.

“As I was heading out the door for my meeting, my uncle’s good friend, Dr. Jonas Sievers, stopped by The Grace Space to talk with me.”

“Does he work at Provident Medical Center?”

Pete took a few steps to the couch and sat down. “No, he’s the medical director for Mercy Medical Mission.”

“Oh,” Angela said, a puzzled tone in her voice.

“He said there had been a miscommunication when I talked to the lady in HR last week. They have a spot for me, running a clinic in Guatemala, starting in three weeks. He said I’m the perfect candidate for the job—and it’s pretty exciting that they want to put me in charge of one of their larger clinics to begin with.”

Angela opened a drawer and pulled out silverware. “I bet that was hard for you to tell them you’d already committed to The Grace Space and Jake’s offer.”

Pete felt some of the same reactions he had earlier when Jonas first dropped the Guatemala news on him. “Well, I didn’t actually tell him no.”

She dropped the fork on the table with a crash. “Why not? You have a job running a clinic now. Here. In Port Provident.”

“I’ve always been up front that working with Mercy Medical Mission has been my dream for years. I’ve connected Jake with Dr. Phil Walden, a friend of mine and professor at the medical school. I think he’s going to step in and run the clinic side of The Grace Space. He was very interested. So don’t worry about Port Provident, Madam Mayor—The Grace Space will still be around to serve the community.”

“And you’re just going to go? After our whole conversation Friday night about there being a foundation to build on?” She didn’t look up, but instead straightened dishes that weren’t even crooked.

“I have to, Angela. This is my chance to go. They’re in a hiring freeze. I won’t get another opportunity like this for a long time.”

He was doing what he planned to do—keep it practical. But seeing her face change from a warm glow to cold stone was practically his undoing.

Angela picked up a plate, fork and glass and took two steps back into the small kitchen and began opening drawers and cabinets, putting the items away. “Then I think you need to go. Celina will be home soon and I don’t want you to be around.”

Pete’s heart unraveled. “You don’t want me around Celina?”

“No. Not if you’re going to leave and never come back. She’s spent her whole life without a father. He’s back in her life now, but I’m still not sure exactly what that will wind up being. I’m not going to have another man that she looks up to—the man who has become the real father figure in her life—leave after she gets more and more attached to him. It’s best that you just go now. I’ll find some way to explain it to her.”

Pete opened his mouth then quickly closed it. He’d already pegged Angela as practical. She’d certainly lived up to it right now—brutally practical.

He walked out the door and down the two small metal steps.

The door to the truck closed with a loud thud that reverberated in his ears and his soul. Pete felt like he was losing Anna all over again—someone he loved was being taken out of his life and he didn’t have control over it.

At least he’d gotten to tell Anna goodbye.

Two weeks later, Angela was unpacking the last box of her things in the mayor’s office. She’d finally gotten all of her furniture and books and other décor transferred from her City Council office at the end of the hall. She placed a framed photo of her and Celina on the beach at the corner of her desk. She’d always loved this photo of giving her daughter a bear hug because it reminded her of the bond they shared.

Last week, Celina had asked questions periodically about Pete. Angela tried to keep her answers light and even promised she’d learn how to fish so Celina wouldn’t have to give up her new favorite hobby. But this week, Celina hadn’t mentioned him once.

Maybe she had moved past it already, demonstrating that resilience kids were known for.

Angela wished she could have said the same. Pete popped into her thoughts more often than she cared to admit and lingered there for longer than she was comfortable. He’d be on a plane to South America soon, and maybe when she knew he was gone for good, she could banish the thoughts of him for good.

She still had her daughter, her family, her church, and the good people of Port Provident—and that was what mattered most to her. Not the presence of one doctor on an island full of them. Not even one who was a good kisser and made her believe in wishes made on shooting stars.

A knock sounded at the door to her office. Angela raised her voice loud enough to be heard and asked them to come in.

“This was just dropped off for you.” Carter Porter, a city councilman, held out an envelope.

Angela walked out from behind her desk and took the folded white square of paper. “Thanks, Carter. Who’s it from?”

Mail service was still spotty on the island and this didn’t have a stamp on it, so clearly it had been hand-delivered.

“Not sure. It was a teenager. I don’t think it was actually from him. I doubt you’re being invited to a rave or anything.”

“A rave?” Angela laughed out loud, the first time she remembered doing so since Pete had walked out the door of her trailer. “Carter, I don’t think people have raves anymore. And even if they do, I seriously doubt anyone is inviting me to one. You’ve known me for how long?”

“Well, it was pre-hurricane. Everything else is kind of a blur.”

“Four years, Carter. We’ve been on City Council together for four years. But I hear you on the pre-hurricane and post-hurricane thing. Time feels very different right now.”

Carter nodded in agreement. “It does indeed, but we’ll soon be back to the way things used to be.”

The way things used to be…in some ways, Angela knew she was already there. Pete was already out of her life. The way things used to be.

Carter whistled a pop tune as he walked down the hallway toward his office. Angela opened the envelope and scanned the piece of paper folded inside. It was an invitation to the grand opening of the new, permanent location for The Grace Space at the end of the week.

Her first instinct told her to say no. Then, she looked at the calendar on the wall. Pete would be on his way to Guatemala by then. He wouldn’t be there.

As the mayor, she needed to be there to support this home-grown program that was making a difference in the lives of hundreds of people in Port Provident. And as a woman, she needed to make peace with not thinking of Pete every time she went somewhere that brought up a memory.

There was no better place to start that than The Grace Space this Friday. She picked up the phone and called the number to RSVP yes.